


To Get To Know Him

by RobinWritesChirps



Category: Black Friday - Team StarKid
Genre: Adopted Children, Alternate Reality, F/M, Family Feels, Found Family, Gen, Parent-Child Relationship, Road Trips, parental figure
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-09
Updated: 2020-07-09
Packaged: 2021-03-04 21:41:32
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,822
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25163317
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RobinWritesChirps/pseuds/RobinWritesChirps
Summary: While Tom is away for the weekend with the girls, Becky and Tim find themselves alone together for several days. Bonding ensues for all parties involved.Family feels, a moment where all kids realize that their family is their forever family and nothing is ever gonna change that.
Relationships: Becky Barnes & Tim Houston, Becky Barnes/Tom Houston, Hannah Foster & Tom Houston, Lex Foster & Tom Houston
Comments: 26
Kudos: 15





	To Get To Know Him

Becky realized two hours into the weekend that this was the longest she would have ever spent with just Tim by the time Tom and the girls would come home on Sunday.

She didn’t mind, not truly. Becky had no trouble making pleasant conversation nor keeping anyone company and had always encouraged in herself to be gentle to others. Particularly a member of her family wasn’t among the people that ought to make her uncomfortable, much less a bright child who was as charming as he was sociable as he was creative. Tim was just about as easy going as Becky could ever have hoped for given the circumstances. The circumstances, however, were precisely why a tinge of awkwardness remained between her and the child, soon a teenager.

It was nothing they had worded out loud, nothing that had ever been more than a looming shadow even between Tom and herself. They never talked about it. Cheerful and often kind, it wasn’t an easy task to pierce through any resentment that might have been building in Tim’s heart and she had no way of knowing his true feelings on her at his deepest. She did not know what Jane had thought of her or ever said about her, if anything at all, if she had hated her like Stanley had Tom. Likely not as fiercely, but nobody was as hateful as Stanley. She did not know what Tim thought of her now either, the woman who had married his father the second time, but who wished she had married him first. That, too, she never spoke about.

The baby started to bawl from his nursery, the sound echoed right here in the kitchen through her phone speakers. They had moved houses before his birth and she was no longer filling the exact space that she always thought she was invading before − Jane’s half of the bed, her closet, her spot on the couch nestled into Tom’s side, the rooms she was sure had held so many memories for Tim. They no longer lived there, she no longer intruded. She still held her share of the love in Tom’s heart, though. She had been the recipient of his attentions and his love every day of her life from the moment they had met again. A part of it, she knew, had never dwindled away in their time apart, no more in Tom than in her. She wondered if Tim knew that. She hoped not.

"Sweetie, can you get the baby, please?" She asked him, for she was cooking.

Tim looked up from his tablet. He had been doing his homework at the kitchen table while she cooked their dinner to be close by in case he needed to ask her any question he might have. Becky thought this was better, how she had naturally completed somewhat of a lacking on Tom’s part. He had never been much good at homework, whether his own back in the days forever ago or the children’s now. At school, he never gave his students any, though at Becky’s teasing, he retorted that he couldn’t exactly give each kid a block of wood and ask them to bring him back a carving the next week.

"Yeah, sure," Tim said, standing to his feet.

He was getting taller every day. She thought she remembered Jane as rather tall, though she had never known the woman so properly as to be introduced. Twelve years old in a mere few weeks, he looked a lot more like his mother than he did Tom. Maybe this was a relief for both Houstons, knowing that a little bit of Jane would always live on so long as Tim bore her traits. The same shape of eyes, the same nose, the lean elegance, the height. He was almost as tall as Becky already and showed little sign of stopping.

"Just bring him to me, I’ll take care of him," she said, "Thanks."

Tim came back having already soothed the baby with his smiles and his chirpings that amused his brother. Nicholas was tender, always shedding tears at the slightest startle, but he was the easiest baby in the world to calm down. Any affection at all brought him comfort and turned his cries to laughter. She loved her baby boy with all the love a mother could have, of course. He was all the evidence that Tom and her were not as broken as they felt, as they believed, for if they were capable of creating a being so perfect as their son, how could they truly be broken themselves? She also loved him for how much Tim and the girls doted on him. Fussy as he was, he was also joyful and his disposition had endeared him with the older kids and she was grateful that the family was more united for having had him and not less as she had feared.

"Here you go, buddy," Tim told the baby as he handed him over.

Becky smiled. It was a fun and impractical business to wrap the baby carrier over her chest while not burning the sauce she was cooking, but Tim helped her to it and finally the baby was cuddled snug against her and she had the use of both hands again. Tim sat back at the table and for a moment there was only the sound of the stove and the occasional coo from Nicholas. Becky looked down at him whenever he made a sound, hummed him a pretty melody, and her son gave her one of his baby sounds in reply. She smiled. Behind her, Tim put down his tablet again and she heard the tap of his fingers against the edge of the table, a tic he had picked from his father.

"Becky?"

"Mmh?"

She had expected him to ask something, but he didn’t say a thing, not immediately. Dinner would be done soon and she cut the heat under the saucepan before turning to him. He startled and avoided her gaze. _Tap tap tap._ He took a big breath.

"Do you love me?"

Becky’s heart sank to the pit of her chest and she felt a pang of guilt too great to suffer. The baby made a squealing sound, unaware of any tension or perhaps, she thought in passing, to assuage it.

"I… Yes, of course I love you," she blurted out. Sitting next to him at the table, she stared at his hands, too anxious to touch him in case it wasn’t well received. "Where’s this coming from? Have I…"

Tim sighed. Folding his arms on the table, he rested his chin on top of them, staring at the wall opposite him. Becky dared to reach out and touched his hand, which Tim touched back.

"It’s just…" He was hesitant and Becky was crippled with guilt. Too many months of allowing an awkwardness to exist had only brought it back to the surface, never to be buried and forgotten. "Dad is happier now, you know."

This gave Becky some relief, and some pause. She had never enquired about his marriage with Jane out of privacy, of course, and perhaps a shameful sense of jealousy. She didn’t know much of how Tom had been in the years they had missed. A little sad, probably, though likely nothing like the months without her _and_ without Jane. Tom thrived on loving the people around him, on devoting his heart and his endeavors to the ones he cherished. Even now, nothing brought him as much joy as being with his family. She could only imagine the same had been true when his family had been confined to his son and his wife. Perhaps the more people he could dote on, the happier he was. Perhaps there was another reason entirely.

"Mom used to…" He smiled to himself. "She could see when he was gloomy and she’d go and tease him, she liked when he told her what was wrong." He huffed. "She called that prodding the bear, cause he didn’t like to tell."

"He still doesn’t, I think," Becky noted.

They looked at each other and smiled. Tim played a little with her fingers, entwined them with his. She was filled with so much affection for the boy. There was so much she might have said to convince him of it, but like father, like son, sometimes the best thing of all was to listen.

"She was so strong, and she always knew what she was doing and she would always lead us there and just…"

He trailed off and closed his eyes.

"I think he liked that and they loved each other very much."

" _Of course_ they did, sweetheart."

Tim nodded.

"But also, I think he likes how you’re… soft and you’re kind and you always wanna comfort him. I think that makes him happy, too."

Becky bit her lip. She didn’t know what to say. That was the truth, she knew, for Tom had said as much to her many times. But would admitting it be intruding on Tim’s fond reminiscing of his mother? She waited for him to go on, hoping he would allow her to better support him, to put him at the center of her love and not in this moment Tom and herself. The love they shared, she thought selfishly, was never put in doubt, but Tim had come to her with such a terrible question that plagued her with guilt. If she had made more efforts to prove her affection to him, if she had been better to Tom’s son, then surely he never would have had a doubt.

Tim opened his eyes again and looked right into hers.

"And me too."

Nicholas tweeted a chirpy little reply, as though relieved, which made Tim smile, but it was Becky whom he was still looking at.

"I want you to be happy," she said with some hesitation − not because her words were not sincere, but because she feared they were not enough. "Tim, if I’ve ever done anything to…"

"You haven’t," he said decidedly. "You’ve done nothing wrong, it’s just…"

He reached out to touch his brother’s hand, who wrapped it around his thumb firmly. Nicholas was more Tom than Becky, though Tom would never admit it. Strong limbs, something gentle and steady about him, even young as he was, the same eyes, the exact shade of his hair. Another reason why Becky loved him − but then, Tim had little of Tom and the girls none at all, and she loved them with all her heart, too.

"She’s just not here anymore. Well, she’s _here_ ," he said and pointed at his heart, "But… you’re the one who’s around and you’re nice to me, you help me with stuff and I don’t think I’m less happy than before, not really anymore. I… I think I’m fine."

"Tim…"

"Cause I think you’re gonna be with Dad forever, probably," Tim said, rambling a little and trying to catch his thoughts as they came to him.

Becky nodded.

"Probably," she said timidly. "I hope I am."

"And Dad’s never _not_ gonna be my dad," he went on, "So that means that you’ll always be there as… as my stepmom, and I guess what I’m saying is, I want you to be? And I hope you want that too because I love you a lot."

Becky’s lip quivered with emotion and she tried not to cry. Pregnancy had left her a mess of emotions that hadn’t really regulated itself since their boy had showed his tiny face a few months ago and she felt raw with the emotions Tim had brought to the surface. She covered the boys’ hands with hers.

"Can I hug you?" She asked softly.

Tim sprung to his feet and she joined him, both of them careful not to crush the baby between them in an embrace that wanted itself more fierce than they could have it. She kissed the top of his head, held him close. Nicholas giggled and she kissed him, too.

"Of course I want that," she told Tim, right against his ear. She rubbed his back. "I love you, I’m never going to not want that."

They hugged and she whispered words of affection to him for a very long time, so long that the food was tepid when they got to it but Tim swore it was the best meal he had ever had in his life. He insisted on helping to feed the baby some of it on his high chair, who still ate more for fun than nutrition and threw half of it on the floor as a game, but the sight of the baby and the child giggling together made her warm and content. It soothed her from having worried so much. After dinner, they played Tim’s favorite game, which he won, talked some more, cuddled on the couch. Nicholas fussed a little and Becky put him at her breast to soothe him, toyed with his short baby hair, and her phone rang.

"I’ll get it," Tim said at once, running to the kitchen. "It’s Dad!"

Becky grinned and readily took the phone he handed her. She could hear the smile in Tom’s voice when he greeted her.

"Hey, babe."

"Hey, Tom."

They chatted for a bit. She had missed him − she always longed for him and was looking forward to their reunion, short as the absence was. Two days and a half tasted like eternity without him.

"How are the girls?" She asked.

"Bullies," he chuckled. "I’m outnumbered, they took over the music, the detours, Hannah picked the motel…"

Becky smiled, a little proud of them only because she knew Tom loved nothing better than to surrender to their daughters so.

"And the boys?" He asked. "Are they being nice?"

Becky looked down at the baby who was lulling himself to sleep on his own, barely nursing anymore, his little hands toying tiredly with the fabric of her shirt. She looked at Tim who was glancing between the screen, where he had put some favorite show Lex had initiated him to, and her as the conversation went on.

"Very nice," she said, smiling at Tim. "You have no idea."

"Well, I’ll go and get something for dinner," Tom said. "We’ve crossed into central time, we haven’t eaten yet, so…"

Becky handed him Tim for some night greetings before paying some of her own, a kiss over the phone in prevision of Sunday night, and Tom hung up.

"Pizza?" He asked the girls, who had been lying on the double bed that was theirs tonight.

The motel was a little dusty and it had a faint lingering smell that Tom couldn’t quite place, but it was cheap and the plan of this trip had not been to splurge. Hannah looked up from her phone, pulled down her headphones around her neck.

"Pizza for dinner?" He repeated.

She nodded, Lex raised her thumb. The headphones were back over Hannah’s ears in no time.

"Lex, can you…"

She smirked at her own phone screen before looking up at him. Sitting up, she taunted.

"Order it for you cause you don’t know how that shit works? Yeah, sure."

She grabbed his smartphone from him − pizza was a mere few taps away. Tom gave her the address they were lodging at and before a minute had passed, the order was made and she gave him the phone again.

"Thanks," he smiled. "Alright…"

It had been a fun afternoon on the road, truth be told. Lex had made a list of a few notable landmarks she was forcing him to visit on their way to the vendor. All afternoon, while Tom had been in the driver’s seat, she had pointed them out to Hannah and periodically they had even stopped to have a look around. An initial simple goal of fetching a bargain from some guy online at the only condition of picking it up that Saturday had turned into an actual family trip between him and the girls and they were having the time of their lives. Or at least had until the exhaustion of a long day had caught up to his daughters and they had fallen onto the bed like empty burlap sacks. He wondered if they would raise again before the next day.

"Did you wanna…"

He stopped, wondering if they would enquire why, and was proved right in his presumption that they wouldn't. Lex stretched a leg in an odd pointing position, then laid it back again. Her hand reached to scratch Hannah's scalp gently.

"A’ight…"

He sat on the twin bed and grabbed the map he had printed out of their travel plan. He fucking hoped the vendor would not be letting go of the item to anyone who would arrive sooner, but he had had a good vibe on the phone as they had made the agreement and he thought they were more or less safe. At worst, they’d have to pay slightly more than anticipated but even then, there wasn’t any sum he wouldn’t splurge for whichever of his kids needed it, if it was smart.

Hannah perked up and joined him on his bed. The phone and the music were forgotten momentarily.

"Where are we?" She asked.

She liked the study of maps, all the more when Tom printed them out for her to observe tangibly in her hands rather than scroll on a little screen. Tom pointed her the location of their motel and she traced first the way they had already driven today, then what was still left to do tomorrow. A red dot marked the destination like a treasure map, if the treasure was a cheap and well-built extensible toddler bed for their brother.

"I think we’ll be there tomorrow around the afternoon or so. Sounds good?"

She nodded, but didn’t give him the map back, studying it with acute interest.

"Uh huh," she said. "That’s good."

He smiled. Patting her knee, he got her attention and she smiled back. He sighed and stretched his arms over his head lazily. Lex had not offered to drive and he had not asked it of her. Tomorrow, he might.

"Then Nicholas will be all set for many years. I think he’s gonna like that."

Hannah nodded again, a little bored, perhaps a little tired already despite it not being very late. Every hour was longer on the road.

"It’s taking some time to get everything settled," he went on, not really sure why he was trying to gap the silence. He had always liked silence. "But I think one buy at a time he’ll have a cozy little room like all of you and it’ll be nice for him. We can make it cheap and make it work."

Lex snorted humorlessly.

"Yeah, then you can finally throw us out when it’s all done."

At first, Tom thought she might be making another of her caustic jokes he didn’t understand, but the longer he sat there staring at her unmoving on the bed opposite him, the less he believed it. Hannah was looking at him and he felt at a loss for words. He cleared his throat.

"What, erm, what are you talking about?"

Lex gave him a glance, but shrugged as if none of this mattered.

"Kidding, dude. Don’t worry about it."

She did not sound like she was kidding. Tom wondered if he ought to take her aside and have a chat about this, but then Hannah’s eyes on him were all the reminder he needed that this conversation involved her, too. Whatever he had to say to Lex, Hannah needed to hear the same.

"Lex," he said starkly and Lex reluctantly looked at him, "Hannah, sweetheart. You’re _never_ gonna be thrown out, what’s this even about?"

Lex didn’t reply, but there was a look on her face that gave him the feeling of having said too little. The three of them weren’t the most expressive of people, he knew, not like Becky or especially Tim. The love that bound them together was the same, though. It made no difference in his heart, none whatsoever. He touched Hannah’s hand, seized it between his own and invited Lex to join them on his bed. Dragging her feet, she obeyed and he added her hands to the pile.

"You’re my family," he declared. He felt awkward to have to lay out something he thought was evident, he felt sad that it had not been, not enough. "You _never_ have to leave. You can live at home forever if you want, fuck, you’re _always_ going to be welcome. It’s your home, too."

"Yeah, yeah…" Lex muttered dismissively.

She tried to tug her hand back but Tom kept it there and looked her in the eyes.

"Listen for a minute, alright?" He said, more like a grumble, which made her smirk a little bit, though she tried to hide it. "You know this already, don’t you? Cause if you don’t, I’m telling you now, you’re my kids exactly like Tim or the baby are. I’d never throw _them_ out either."

Lex said something under her breath that sounded a lot like ’too bad’ that Tom preferred not to take seriously. He had enough to be serious about as was.

"Do you understand?"

For a reply, Hannah leaned her head against his shoulder affectionately and Tom wrapped an arm around her. It took Lex a little longer but eventually she sighed out and leaned against him on the other side, and Tom felt perfectly at peace with his daughters in his arms. He kissed one head then the other on top of their dark hair. Closed his eyes. Breathed.

"Well, I was just kidding around and you had to make it all sappy."

He chuckled. The reply won Lex another kiss on the crown on the head.

"But were you, though?"

Lex didn’t reply to that, but her arms wrapped around his waist and Tom supposed he had an answer either way.

The doorbell startled them all a few moments later and Lex sprung to her feet, eager both to grab the pizza from the delivery guy and to get out of a moment of overindulging her emotions. They sat on the floor to eat it and though nothing was mentioned of their conversation again, Tom felt the effects of it all night long, the affection flowing easily between them all, something a little smoother in every interaction. The three of them matched well together. The six of them did, whichever way they were patched between each other. He was looking forward to coming home to his wife and sons, but enjoyed his time on the road with his daughters, too. Family, he thought, was a joy and a reward in all dispositions. He was only content that the rest of them knew it now, too.

**Author's Note:**

> Please leave a comment!!!


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